Gov Barney, I think you're right about N Korea hating to be ignored and this may be another case of them making noise to try and get more aid.

I've read that this kid was schooled for sometime in Switerland, that his classmates said he was a bit lazy, dopey and that that he enjoyed NBA basketball, US video games and US movies. I was hoping that this kid would have seen the opportunity he had and tried to change things. It seems that he is just following the traditional path, his dad's footsteps and probably doing what his advisors tell him. It's a shame, lost opportunity for everyone and an increasinly dangerous situation.

CDT, they are either completely off the reservation, nuts and isolated or there is some double-dealing going on with China and their public vs private position on this. I honest don't know which it is.

Normally I wouldn't think that N. Korea does this without some back-channel agreements with China. If that's not what is happening here then I agree with you and this is more dangerous than previous N. Korean attention-getting, money-grabing saber rattling.

Hopefully Barney is right and it's just more of the same aid-driven attention getting they pull every 3-4 years.

This situation is escalating faster than I thought. North Korea moving missiles to their east coast and the US responding by putting ABM systems on Guam. Fighting them would be a nightmare. The densest AA system in the world, nuclear armed, and 2 million troops ready to invade the South. They're as fanatical as any Muslim extremist, and way better organized.

We're already in the meat-grinder, with some 15,000 American troops between North and South, and clearly in harm's way. One hopes this bluster, like most of NK's public statements, are largely for internal consumption. But since we've got a new actor on the stage, nobody can be sure.

I'm remembering these days how Reagan was mocked and derided for developing SDI (or "Star Wars", as they called it), by the same Democrats who are happily implementing it today to keep us and our allies safer.

"I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting." H.L. Mencken

Except the SDI technology wasn't there in the 80's, not for what they planned. The tracking systems were unreliable, lasers a fantasy, and the system could have been defeated by the Soviets simply launching multiple decoys to overwhelm the grid.

I hope fat boy is just full of bluster, but you never know with them. I'd put the chances of them doing something really stupid in the next 6 months at 50/50.

I was stationed in Korea a few years ago as an Infantryman. I dont think shit will happen. The North does this shit every few years. On the other hand though the US troops there will only be speed bump. The main fighting force is so close to the border that the NK artillery would flatten the place without any warning. That, and the Army there being awfully equipped with outdated cold war era gear. The terrain is a fucking nightmare.

What makes this so dangerous is that there are lieutenants on both sides of the barbed wire. We almost opened fire on our own MPs one night, because an MP LT held his map upside down and wound up in the wrong part of the training area (where our Bradley was shooting its 30mm chaingun) and didnt feel the need to tell the battalion HQ they were out conducting operations. The MPs shot off some flares and our LT thought they might be attacking NK forces, radioed in to HQ that they are ready to engage and stood by for further instructions. Our LT got really jumpy. Some stupid shit might set off a war down there. And dont underestimate the north's tunnel systems.

“Chaos is what we've lost touch with. This is why it is given a bad name. It is feared by the dominant archetype of our world, which is Ego, which clenches because its existance is defined in terms of control.”

I've read about the North's invasion tunnels, I know the South and the C.I.A. have found many, but they believe there are more, and it means NK troops could be in Seoul in 1-2 hours.

The terrain is what worries me, all those mountains spider-webbed with bunkers and god knows what else. It has the makings of king Hell guerrilla warfare. That country is prepared for invading or being invaded.

The terrain is a fucking nightmare. Thing about Korea though is that you can only do large scale offensives in the spring and fall. The summer monsoon and the crazy winters severely restict troop mobility. But im betting, knowing how crazy koreans are, they have a top secret ultra complex human wave attack plan. Word around the campfire was they'd try everything to take Seoul within 48 hours. The US forces aren't there for a counter attack. They only have one Combat Brigade there, which wont do shit against 2 million brainwashed soldiers.

“Chaos is what we've lost touch with. This is why it is given a bad name. It is feared by the dominant archetype of our world, which is Ego, which clenches because its existance is defined in terms of control.”

SpaceShuttleDoorGunner wrote: On the other hand though the US troops there will only be speed bump. The main fighting force is so close to the border that the NK artillery would flatten the place without any warning.

My fear exactly. We have way too many troops there at risk, and in a very vulnerable position. The NK missiles currently in place could flatten Seoul in an hour. "Speed bump" is a good term for our deterrent. Yes, we could retaliate and destroy them in a heartbeat, but not before a lot of American kids are dead.

And CDT, you're right that we didn't have the SDI technology in the 80's...and we wouldn't have it now if we hadn't started developing it then. The very idea was mocked as "trying to hit a bullet with a bullet". (Now see Iron Dome). If nothing else, it served the purpose of panicking the Soviets, and helped speed their demise a few short years later.

"I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting." H.L. Mencken

There's nothing wrong with developing technology, but deploying technology before it's actually viable is bad idea. And yes, we were always spending money on defense, putting pressure on Moscow to keep up, but that race delivered us right into the arms of the MIC that Ike warned us about.

War with the North Koreans is such a scary proposition, I hope to fuck it never happens, because I don't think the US is ready for that kind of war. Not after spending the last 10+ years in two other wars. But if they strike we will have to retaliate, the onus once again falling on our guys.

I hope they back down, the increased pressure from China and Russia could be very helpful in reigning them in..... but it's North Korea, so who knows.

YahooFanChicago wrote:Nothing on here about the fat Korean kid and his nukes? I'm surprised and disapointed...you guys are normally all over shit like this and excel at verbally tearing apart assholes like that.

and then you've got the Rodman angle so there's that too.

It's nothing but political dick-swinging from a 29 year old pudding head

"There is but one thing of real value: to cultivate truth and justice and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men"

Stop sending people to kill me. We've already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle... If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow, and I won't have to send a second.

I don't believe what the Chiense say, i believe they have NK's back no matter what. NK could be waiting for the middle east/Isreal thing to blow up so when we are preoccupied over there, they flip the switch and send there brainwashed drones to fight the south.

"Cocaine is a hell of a drug" - Originated from a famous skit in Dave Chappelle's "Chappelle's Show". The skit would portray Rick James, usually high on cocaine, preforming doing crazy and stupid things, such as smacking Charlie Murphy in the face. Rick James would frequently explain away his actions by saying "Cocaine is a hell of a drug".

Stop sending people to kill me. We've already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle... If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow, and I won't have to send a second.

Balkan people are crazy and ruthless. It is interesting reading about the Illyrians.

"When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience."

Ah.... the Illyrians, who could have been a power player in the region if only the tribes had stopped fighting each other (never changed). Unlucky spot to be in, Romans to the west, Greeks/Macedonians to the east and south, and Celts to the north. Excellent pirates. Like everyone else in the region, the Romans had to launch a "self defense" strike against them, destroy their culture, steal their riches, and make them "civilized".....

“Chaos is what we've lost touch with. This is why it is given a bad name. It is feared by the dominant archetype of our world, which is Ego, which clenches because its existance is defined in terms of control.”

"Doomsday plane"... When everything on the ground is dead or radioactive, that's what takes over.

The comments section was hilarious, this had me loling hard:

They'll send a team of 40 commandos driving garbage trucks to take down the White House in 13 minutes flat & kidnap the teleprompter & defense secretary in the situation room... If they don't get the nuke codes, they'll drag Valerie Jarrett down the hall while she pledges allegiance to the flag... Boner will be put in [temporary] charge & will start crying... Dennis Rodman will end up saving the day...

I wonder though how far the sepctrum of geopolitics reaches. To what extent are China and Russia supporting NK? Is NK acting alone? What agenda are the US pursuing here? Are the US using this to deploy forces for an upcoming skirmish with China (not saying its iminent, could be 10 years, or 50 years...who knows)? A confrontation with China does seem all but inevitable down the road. Were already fucking with China's shit all over the middle east and since AFRICOM started we've been meddling in 34 countries in Africa and counting, so far.

I live in Germany, and in 2003 when Iraq kicked off I saw the B52s heading eastward. I was at baseball practice and was about to catch a fly ball when I distained pursuit of the leather-wraped ball of string. My buddy asked what it was and I exclaimed Iraq was about to kick off and they all laughed. A B52 at cruising altitude looks unlike anything else in the sky. It was a feeling i'll never forget. Something in me changed that day. Been asking questions ever since.

“Chaos is what we've lost touch with. This is why it is given a bad name. It is feared by the dominant archetype of our world, which is Ego, which clenches because its existance is defined in terms of control.”

North Korea is a massive liability to both China and Russia. I don't think they have anything to gain by privately encouraging the DPRK. They do not want a stronger US presence in their part of the world, which is exactly what is happening now because of NK's troop and missile movements.

Globally, my 3 biggest regions of concern are North Korea, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran. All 3 have nuclear implications.

I wonder though how far the sepctrum of geopolitics reaches. To what extent are China and Russia supporting NK? Is NK acting alone? What agenda are the US pursuing here? Are the US using this to deploy forces for an upcoming skirmish with China (not saying its iminent, could be 10 years, or 50 years...who knows)? A confrontation with China does seem all but inevitable down the road. Were already fucking with China's shit all over the middle east and since AFRICOM started we've been meddling in 34 countries in Africa and counting, so far.

I live in Germany, and in 2003 when Iraq kicked off I saw the B52s heading eastward. I was at baseball practice and was about to catch a fly ball when I distained pursuit of the leather-wraped ball of string. My buddy asked what it was and I exclaimed Iraq was about to kick off and they all laughed. A B52 at cruising altitude looks unlike anything else in the sky. It was a feeling i'll never forget. Something in me changed that day. Been asking questions ever since.

We're not going to war with China...that would be the end of everything....absolutely everything. Too much at stake..there would be no winners or anything close to it. It would be 100x worse than the US/USSR in the 80's.

YahooFanChicago wrote:We're not going to war with China...that would be the end of everything....absolutely everything. Too much at stake..there would be no winners or anything close to it. It would be 100x worse than the US/USSR in the 80's.

I don’t know. If you look at the increase in military bases in the Asian Pacific its starting to get worrying. We’re going to be building a naval base in Australia. We're pushing hard for bases in in places like Vietnam and some other countries (http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012 ... -exercises).

I’m almost willing to put money on a base in Myanmar in the future, with all of the support that Aung San Suu Kyi and her party receive from Washington and its "non-lethal", foreign arm of political influence, known to the common man as NGOs (not saying all are bad, but alot are dubious and answer to no one but their corporate backers, which take turns wandering through the revolving doors, and holding various government offices, in a nutshell basically). Myanmar represents a pattern of covert support that has reciprocated since WWII, and will ultimately benefit US political/economic interests.

Neither China nor the US have the forces necessary to effectively control the Pacific to an extent that it limits the adversary's counterstrike capabilities. Yet the build up of forces is alarming, and the weapons being deployed all indicate that the doctrine is already at work for both parties.

It's almost safe to say that a strategic nuclear war is out of the picture. The utter devastation to the planet would be irreversible and both sides would lose and both sides know this. This does’nt rule out the use of "mini-nukes", to combat a naval force, i.e. a Chinese copy of the Soviet Kh-22 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raduga_Kh-22).

This is just a personal opinion, but the elephant in the room no one talks about outside of closed door sessions, could be a lingering fear of Russia by some oldschool Cold War era hardliners in the Pentagon.

I could go into further depth but it would probably need a thread of its own.

“Chaos is what we've lost touch with. This is why it is given a bad name. It is feared by the dominant archetype of our world, which is Ego, which clenches because its existance is defined in terms of control.”

Fat little fuck now telling foreigners in S. Korea to leave since he can't guarantee their safety. Too damn funny, little fuck keeps trying to scream louder to get some more attention and some cash. Fuck him.